Reply To: Is today Thanksgiving or something?

Lesschumras, in terms of your second point:

There is no connection. Whatever a Jew does, he does because he is a Jew. If he feels that he should take Medicaid, etc., it is because he decided that according to hashkafas HaTorah, it is appropriate to take Medicaid. He should NOT be doing it automatically just because it is what Americans do.

And there may be Rabbanim who say that one shouldn’t take certain government benefits (I don’t know for a fact, but that is what I have heard). If someone follows a Rav who feels that way, then he shouldn’t. If someone’s Rav feels that he should, then he should. But whatever he does, he does as Jew who serves Hashem and follows the Torah and has no other considerations.